Re-imagining the future through the present: re-engaging Dreamtime

Engendering 2052 through Re-imagining the Present: Review of a report to the Club of Rome (Part #14)

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Dreams the future is made of: Reference was made above to the choice of title by eminent physicist Stephen Hawking (The Dreams That Stuff Is Made Of: the most astounding papers of quantum physics -- and how they shook the scientific world, 2011). What is astounding is the curious juxtaposition of dreaming and quantum physics from a perspective that has demonstrated not the slightest capacity to give credence to dreams, other than as subjective illusions of the most dubious "existence".

And yet it is indeed through dreaming that people give coherence to their lives -- even strategic coherence -- in engaging across time and with the future (cf. Engaging Macrohistory through the Present Moment, 2004). As mentioned above, the much-cited phrase of Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream, has been one such inspiration to millions. In a recent report summarizing the insights of the laureates of the Blue Planet Prize, the "problem" faced echoes such a dream:

We have a dream -- a world without poverty -- a world that is equitable -- a world that respects human rights -- a world with increased and improved ethical behavior regarding poverty and natural resources - a world that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable, and where economic growth is accomplished within the constraints of realising social objectives of poverty eradication and social equity and within the constraints of nature's life support carrying capacity, and a world where the challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and social inequity have been successfully addressed. This is an achievable dream, but the system is broken and our current pathway will not realise it. (Environment and Development Challenges: The Imperative to Act 20, The Asahi Glass Foundation, February 2012)

Missing however is reflection on the cognitive connectivity between dreaming and articulation, as implied by the case of quantum physics -- whose theories could well be described as dreams of the most elusive kind.

The question is how does "dreaming" work in engendering the future? This is a process familiar to every creative artist and inventor? It is central to Arthur Koestler's The Act of Creation (1964). How is the "dreamtime" of the past period of cheap credit -- so widely appreciated, exploited and promoted -- to be distinguished from that suggested here, or from the Dreamtime as understood by Australian Aborigines? Could it be usefully argued, adapting Martin Luther King, that the leaders of the global financial community "have had a dream" -- a bad dream, from which they have yet to awake?

Dreaming vs. Forecasting -- stepping into the mirror: The "forecast" of the 2052 Report, through its use of "cast", offers the image of the kind of journey for which the "die is cast". It effectively precludes the interference effects of the multiple dreams by which the future will be made. As extensively explored in the seminal work with respect to other such terms by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson ( Metaphors We Live By, 1980), "cast" offers a degree of foregone conclusion. The eminent author of the report is sure that he is "right" in the light of his extensive study (p. xvi). The term "cast" has unfruitful associations to precast concrete -- consistent with use of metaphors such as "building the future" (especially using prefabricated elements from the past).

By contrast, dreaming opens a multiplicity of possibilities -- many of which will necessarily emerge over the next forty years. The very process of dreaming challenges the boundaries of "forecasting" -- as carefully delineated in the trend lines of the 2052 Report. As stressed above, it may call into question the very nature of identity -- as has quantum physics, notably in its implications for consciousness.

An alternative metaphor is offered by "mirror", which has a long tradition in relation to "speculation" regarding the future -- predating that of forecasting. It may be used to reframe events such as the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, 2012), as it was for its predecessor (My Reflecting Mirror World: making my World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) worthwhile, 2002). The mirror also figures in many ways in dreaming -- if only in reflection on personal identity (Looking in the Mirror -- at Josef Fritzl ? Global conditions on reflection, 2009). The traditional fascination with "magically" entering the mirror suggests other strategic understandings, separately explored (Stepping into, or through, the Mirror: embodying alternative scenario patterns, 2008).

Exploring the songlines of the noosphere: The suggestion was briefly made above that the "glimpses" of the 2052 Report could fruitfully be understood as the "songs" of different "voices" -- potentially together forming a "choir". They can also be understood as the dreams of individuals reflecting those of particular constituencies. The report would emphasize their consistency with trend lines -- the "tracks" by which many may feel they are being currently "railroaded" into the future, or "trained" for it.

This understanding can be challenged and reframed in the intangible subtleties of a global knowledge society. The explosion and interweaving of hyperlinks across cyberspace offer a sense of linkage through a hyperspace which can be compared with intuitions regarding the nature of a noosphere whose "metaphysics" and "dimensionality" remain to be understood. The sense of "track" can therefore be reframed, as discussed separately (From Information Highways to Songlines of the Noosphere: global configuration of hypertext pathways as a prerequisite for meaningful collective transformation, 1996). To the Australian Aborigenes these are also known as Dreaming tracks. The trend lines can be reframed as "songlines" along which people variously travel -- each with their appropriate guardians.

Engendering possibilities through re-imagining: The forecast of the 2052 Report is necessarily based on statistical probabilities. The language of probability offers the notion of confidence intervals with which are associated confidence levels. Behaviourally these might well be understood in terms of so-called comfort zones.

A probabilistic vision of the world has been integrated into aesthetic and religious considerations by the statistician-philosopher Vasily Nalimov (Realms of the Unconscious: the enchanted frontier, 1982). This offers a remarkable synthesis, drawing on the entire range of knowledge (including elements of semantics, natural and social sciences, mysticism, and the arts) in an effort to understand how the human mind perceives the world. The methodology is borrowed largely from physics (as capable of tolerating paradoxes within its own theories), with considerable attention to the role of metaphor and the function of human imagination in capturing manifestations of consciousness and unconsciousness.

Playful exploration of probabilities: The 2052 Report, as noted above, highlights the role of online gaming as a means of exploring probable futures. Whilst this may be the essence of simulation, it is the cognitive engagement with play that calls for attention, as stressed by Johan Huizinga (Homo Ludens: a study of the play element in culture, 1955). The future may well discover profound significance to the daily fascination with board games, the passing patterns of ball games, and other sports -- and with gambling (Understanding Sustainable Dialogue: the secret within Bucky's Ball? 1996).

Structured otherwise, the 2052 Report could have been promoted as embodying secret codes to inspire the questing curiosity aroused by The Da Vinci Code (2003). Are there such secrets embodied within it -- if only to enable the hidden agenda of the Club of Rome, as hypothesized by conspiracy theorists? What of the various sets of numbers by which it is organized? (cf Representation, Comprehension and Communication of Sets: the Role of Number, 1978).

Other than the use of management games by corporations, of special interest is their use within intentional communities, as with the Transformation Game of the Findhorn Foundation, or the Game of Life of the Damanhur federation of communities (with a computer-based variant known as Super Risk, or Risiko).

These recall, and are presumably inspired, by the game described so elusively by Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse (The Glass Bead Game, 1943), itself inspired by the forgotten chess-like game Rithmomachia ("The Battle of Numbers"). This combined the pleasures of gaming with mathematical study and moral education. Intellectuals of the medieval and Renaissance periods who played this game were not only seeking to master the principles of Boethian mathematics but were striving to improve their own understanding of the secrets of the cosmos (Ann E. Moyer, In The Philosophers' Game, 2001). Given its dependence on simulation, can the 2052 Report be "re-construed" as a game -- playing with probabilities?

Imagining the future through marriage as archetypal metaphor: The nature, quality and duration of relationships -- much challenged at the present time -- embody implicitly many issues highlighted by the 2052 Report. In the dream of durable marriage, that of long-term consensus is evident in contrast to deprecated short-termism. As forming the archetypal household, it is the primary locus of the level of consumption challenged by the report.

The tragic dynamics of adultery and divorce are suggestively indicative of marriage to a rejected past, undermining emergence of a desired future -- a problematic relation to time.  It is more than ironic that "adultery" should be a characteristic of "adult" maturity and a primary cause of divorce. Analogues are to be found in collective initiatives and their schismatic tendencies -- as a characteristic of the irresolutique. Is the 2052 Report to be considered a plea for "divorce" from the past -- or at least some form of "adulterous" engagement with sustainable alternatives -- in anticipation of engagement with the future?

Despite its role as an archetypal metaphor, the 2052 Report accords little attention to the evolving form of relationships as reflecting the emerging understanding of possible future consensual and contractual relationships separately discussed (Transcending Simplistic Binary Contractual Relationships What is hindering their exploration? 2012). Despite its extreme importance to many, mention of "love" in the report is limited to that for games and the wilderness.

It could therefore be argued that there is a case for revisiting the transformative role of courtly love, as catalyzed by the troubadours. Some such transformation could compensate for the "fucking propensities" characteristic of modern courts of diplomacy and their scandals, as mentioned in the review of the Royal Society report. These are consistent with what amounts to a tendency to "fuck the present" through "one-night stands".

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